A boy from Zeeland and his conscience

[Thunfish 72]

Four boys and six girls observed a Mexico City Kings jersey hanging on the wall of the main room inside the van de Schubbekuteveen house. Their ages varied, the eldest one being ten while the youngest one, a little girl, couldn't have more than four years in this planet. Soon, someone behind then cleared their throat. The kids cheered almost in unison with a loud yell of "Sunrise!" before nearly tackling him to the floor.

 

"G-Guys, hold on, calm down... I ain't gonna be leaving here any time soon, calm down, I just wanted a good look at my own hockey jersey since dad put it up there without telling me he was going to even do that", he explained while carefully plucking out the little kids from over him. Eventually, one of the kids gathered enough courage to properly ask about his time in Mexico. Sunrise chuckled, taking a seat near the hanged jersey with a smile on his face. Sunrise had a couple of tales about his time in Mexico, every now and then mentioning his time on the ice as a player for the Kings, relating tales about the people whom he had met on the minors and how they had all changed his perspective in one way or another towards the way he saw things as.

"So, big brother", started one of the girls, a blonde one that shouldn't be older than nine years old, with an inquisitive look towards her older brethren, "are you coming back for good?". Sunrise blinked, a bit surprised with the question and why it was being made by one of his younger sisters. Was the farm struggling without him? Surely not, that wouldn't make any sense in the slightest, his parents said things were going to be fine either way, with him either at the farm or away playing hockey for a living - why would that change? "Say, Athena", Sunrise formalized his plans to his sister, trying to start a subtle search on the subject. "Has father said anything about the farm needing some help? Anything that he would need me around but can't really talk due to reasons of bravado?", he finished asking. Athena, unsurprisingly for a little child, tilted her head and replied with a question of her own.

 

"What is a bravado? Is it something you can eat? How does it taste? Hopefully, it's like my chocolate milk!"

 

The young left winger shook his head, letting the little girl go. He sighed, staring at the slow departure of the Sun as it crawled towards the skyline. Was it right of him to move away from the family's farm life for this pro hockey journey? Or maybe by doing so, he was doing the right thing, getting his home village's name out there under his father's most sincere request.

He heard a buzz on his phone. An e-mail from one of the interested parties for the draft. The boy sighed, answering everything carefully and patiently. Perhaps, his father would indeed be proud about him but the uncertainty certainly stung.

[diacope 2 764]

Good luck in the VHLM next season, hopefully the Mexico City roster will see big improvement and they'll be a bit more competitive. I've noticed you around the league and you seem to be one of the biggest first gens around. With the VHL draft coming up I think you'll make a fine addition to a roster in a few seasons or whenever you make it to the big league. Whoever is doing the draft stream is going to have a hell of a time when your name comes up on the board lmao. 9/10